The Local Level Restructuring Commission (LLRC) has proposed 70 staff in each village and municipal council, suggesting that it would require at least 50,000 staffers to carry out administrative works at the local level in new set-up.

The commission submitted the restructuring report to the government on Friday, proposing 719 village and municipal councils including four metropolitan and 12 sub-metropolitan cities. There will be 6,553 wards in the proposed new set-up, at least five in each village council and nine in each municipal council to serve as the service centre. According to Sunil Ranjan Singh, a member of the commission, the metropolitan and sub-metropolitan cities will each have around 170 gazetted staff. The total number of employees in these local units, however, will exceed 250 if lower-level staffers are brought into the account.

According to the report, Morang district has the highest number of local units with 17, followed by Sarlahi, Rupandehi (each with 16 units), Nawalparasi, Jhapa, and Rautahat (15), while with four Bhaktapur has the lowest. Currently, there are 217 municipalities and 3,117 VDCs with a total workforce of 15,000. Under the new set-up, the local levels will require three times the present staffers. The restructuring report will be implemented once the government publishes it in the Nepal Gazette.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has asked Federal Affairs Minister Hitraj Pandey and Chief Secretary Som Lal Subedi to make preparations for implementing the report.

“We are now focused on calculating the minimum budget required for each local unit,” said Singh.